Balaji Telefilms Ltd. and PI Films’ Laila Majnu (UA) is based on the classic folklore but is set in today’s Kashmir.
Qaes (Avinash Tiwary), son of Sarwar (Benjamin Gilani), falls in love with Laila (Tripti Dimri), daughter of Masood (Parmeet Sethi). The two families live in Kashmir and both the fathers are sworn enemies. Even while Qaes convinces his father to get him married to Laila, the latter’s father is too egoistic to relent. What Masood does instead is to get Laila forcibly married to Ibban (Sumit Kaul) who turns out to be a parasite and a drunkard.
While Qaes goes away to London after failing to convince Laila’s father and even Laila, vowing never to return to her, she herself sticks with her good-for-nothing husband who, with the help of father-in-law Masood, becomes an MLA. Four years later, Qaes returns to Kashmir when his father passes away suddenly. He chances to see Laila one day and can’t control his emotions. On her part, Laila meets Qaes without her husband’s permission. She is shocked to learn that he has not been able to forget her all these years. She decides to walk out on Ibban and settle down with Qaes, unconcerned about what her traditional family and society would think about her. But she stops herself from taking the drastic step of eloping with Qaes when the frustrated Ibban dies in a car accident. Laila chooses instead to wait for the mourning period to get over.
What happens after that? Do the star-crossed lovers unite?
Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali have written a story based on the folklore but set it in modern times. Since it is an oft-repeated story, the lack of novelty is a minus point. Not just that, even otherwise, the post-interval portion is very boring and repetitive. The duo’s screenplay fails to make the viewers empathise with Laila or Qaes, and that’s the biggest drawback. For, what’s a love story in which the audience does not root for the lovers. The post-interval portion is not just boring but also very depressing. Even the climax absolutely fails to emotionally move the viewers. The dialogues, written by Imtiaz Ali and Sajid Ali, are fair only.
Avinash Tiwary acts well as Majnu (Qaes). But he does not have the looks of a hero. Tripti Dimri makes a fair debut as Laila but she does not endear herself to the audience. She does not look very pretty. Sumit Kaul makes his presence felt as Ibban. Parmeet Sethi is quite alright as Masood. Benjamin Gilani leaves a mark as Sarwar. Sahiba Bali does a fine job as Laila’s friend, Ambreen. Abrar Qazi has his moments in the role of Qaes’ friend, Zaid. He looks handsome. Shagufta Ali (as Laila’s aunt), Mir Sarwar (as Qaes’ brother-in-law), Vasundhara Kaul (as Qaes’ sister), Sujata Segal (as Laila’s mother), Duaa Bhat (as Shama), Farhana Bhat (as Jasmeet), R.J. Rafiq (as Touseef), Moomin Rafiq (as Umer), master Dawar (as young Qaes), baby Hibba Shafi (as young Laila), Khawar Jamsheed (as Mudi), Shahid Gulfam (as Rasool), Zameer Ashai (as Nisar Bukhari), Maqbool Bhat and Rocky (both as Qaes’ servants), Saniya Mir (as Arshai Dilber), Iftikar (as Nimazi), Sammy Basheer (as Laila’s cousin), Saba (as Laila’s college friend) and the rest provide fair support.
Sajid Ali’s direction is found lacking. Although he has taken care of the Kashmiri accent of the actors, his narration does not keep the viewers engaged or entertained. Music (Niladri Kumar, Joi Barua and Alif band) is appealing but the songs are not as popular as songs of a love story of this kind ought to have been. The ‘Sarphiri’, ‘Mujhe fikr nahi’, ‘Ahista ahista’ and ‘O meri Laila’ songs are the pick of the lot. Irshad Kamil’s lyrics are very nice. Song picturisations (Ashley Lobo, Rajeev Surti, Raka and Imtiaz Ali) lack freshness. Hitesh Sonik’s background music is okay. Sayak Bhattacharya’s cinematography is good, at least as far as capturing the Kashmir locales is concerned. Production designing (by Khawar Jamsheed, Hashir Malik and Rakesh Yadav) and art direction (by Mohd. Zarar Alam and Krishna Thakur) are alright. Editing (Aarif Sheikh and Aarti Bajaj) is fairly sharp.
On the whole, Laila Majnu has a weak second half which will mar its box-office prospects. Lack of popular songs and a weak lead cast will also tell on its box-office performance. In the final tally, it will prove to be a flop.